I have been slacking due to Christmas/NY travels, a chest cold, and family visits up here. In fact, I had only ridden 2 miles since doing a half metric century on 20th December. I have been feeling a lot better the past couple of days and have stopped coughing so it was time to make the effort to go out. I didn't fancy anything too energetic though so I was pleased to get a call from a friend in Hebden Bridge asking if I fancied meeting her at a cafe there for lunch. I wanted to see how the town is recovering from the recent flooding, and I also wanted to buy a bottle of the soy sauce that I like so I agreed to ride over.
My mind was back in cycling mode 30 seconds after setting off. My legs could feel their 3 week lay-off but soon got into it. My lungs were more reluctant and were crying "
Cough, splutter, blimey, that air is cold - you don't really want more oxygen do you?"
When I arrived in Hebden Bridge, it was obvious that the town centre IS badly damaged. The Co-op is the main supermarket for the town and that was completely trashed by the flood waters. They have a temporary shop in their car park. I saw lots and lots of other closed down shops, estate agents, banks etc. There was a large hand-painted sign in the window of the LBS (Blazing Saddles) which had clearly been badly hit - something along the lines of 'Proud to live and work in this great little town'.
The cafe that we went to had reopened but we there was a damp, musty smell from the flooding.
The shop I bought my soy sauce from had also been flooded but they had managed to reopen.
I spent half my life in the town and it is sad to see it like that now. Councils, the environment agency, government, residents and business owners in towns at risk like this need to have a complete rethink. They can't keep just pumping out flooded premises every couple of years. The solution has to be a combination of better upland water storage, better valley flood defences, and better water-protection measures for buildings in the flood zones. Some of the businesses are already up and running again. Others took a year last time. It wasn't just due to where they were.
Plans to extend the ride into something more exciting were shelved and I settled for a 10 mile round trip. I'll try and get longer rides in later in the week.
)
so really wanted to get out. I decided I would do my usual route to see how the legs were and get some fresh air. The weather was cold and a little misty and as it was PM when I got out, it was only going to get colder so wrapped up and I was off. On the return leg it started to rain - they certainly sting on your face when you are moving at a reasonable pace !!
